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West Auckland Aquatics sprinter Mark Herring went close to a national record on the second morning of heats at the Absolute Insurance world championship swim trials in Auckland this morning.

Herring, competing in his home pool, topped qualifiers in the men’s 50 m freestyle at the West Wave Aquatic Centre in Waitakere City. He clocked 23.31s, which was only 4/100ths of a second outside the New Zealand record held by his brother Brad Herring.

It was a personal best although Herring feels he can go faster in tonight’s semifinal. He finished 3/10ths ahead of butterfly exponent Corney Swanepoel and his North Shore clubmate William Benson for tonight’s semifinal.

Backstroke star Hannah McLean showed her versatility to head qualifiers for tonight’s semifinals of the 100m freestyle with the only sub-57 second performance in this morning’s heats.

She clocked 56.56s to head a charge from North Shore swimmers who filled six of the fastest eight qualifiers for tonight’s semifinals, including Alison Fitch, Helen Norfolk, Calle Durham, Penelope Marshall and Ayla Dunlop-Barrett.

North Shore’s Glenn Snyders followed up his outstanding swim in winning the 200m breaststroke last night by topping qualifiers in the 50m breaststroke. He clocked 29.23 ahead of clubmate Oliver Young and Greerton’s Sam Rosenberg.

Tonight’s programme starting at 6pm includes finals of the women’s 50m butterfly, men’s 100m backstroke, women’s 50m breaststroke, men’s 100m butterfly, women’s 100m backstroke, women’s 800m freestyle, the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay and women’s 4x100m freestyle relay.